Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

Hibiki Asase smiled helplessly.

Yae no Miko didn't seem to care. She hooked her arm around his neck and walked to the side, lowering her voice, "Brother, how is it?"

"How is it?" Shen Liang asked curiously.

"That's not very good... The three of us pretended to be asleep to give Mitsuyo a chance, but she didn't take it!" Yae no Miko said, slapping her thigh in exasperation. "It's time for the martial arts competition soon. You and Mitsuyo need to spend some time alone and make the most of that time to deepen your relationship!"

Shen Liang was both amused and exasperated.

At this moment, Shidai had already changed into his kendo uniform and turned to head to the martial arts dojo. Shen Liang left the Eightfold Divine Child behind and hurriedly followed him in.

"You say it's boring? You're a man after all." The little fox pouted.

"The way they interact makes me anxious," Qinggufang said helplessly.

Hibiki Asase nodded slightly.

Unlike the other three, Mitsuyo was actually the one most distant from Shen Liang.

Led by the great demon, they had already accompanied Shen Liang through many thrilling lifestyles. But Mitsuyo was still a well-behaved girl, and everyone was always thinking about when to drag her into it.

"Last night everyone pretended to be asleep, but this girl actually stayed up with us and slept like a log!" Yae Shinko said, exasperated. "Couldn't she have sneaked upstairs and made it a done deal? Now we're all too afraid to let her do anything with her around, she's just getting in our way!"

Qing Gu Fang looked helplessly at the Divine Child, "Why is it that your fox demon clan wants to indulge in their desires anytime, anywhere?"

"A fox demon is a fox spirit, after all. My willingness to share His Highness with you is already an act of great generosity on my part!"

"Lord Zhaigong doesn't do it that way."

"Hey, you think she doesn't do that?"

"..."

Chapter 18 Extra Chapter: The Little Demon Inazuma of Yesteryear (Supplement)

The dojo is completely soundproof, and it can even be used as a recording studio, complete with all kinds of musical instruments and equipment.

Shen Liang, wielding a wooden sword, sent Ying Xiangguang crawling haphazardly across the ground.

Although she is a genius girl of the Tengu clan, Inazuma is surrounded by genius girls and boys, but Shen Liang is a true demon god.

The talent of a demon god is on a completely different level compared to that of an ordinary person. In fact, it could be said that what Shen Liang possesses is not "talent" at all, but rather a kind of superpower similar to muscle memory. He learns martial arts extremely casually, but he learns extremely quickly. Being taught by Mikoto Chiyo and the God of Thunder is not really an advantage, because in history, famous teachers do not necessarily produce outstanding students.

However, Shen Liang only practices sporadically, yet his talent allows him to hone his martial arts skills to a level unmatched among his peers.

This "peers" doesn't mean everyone is in their teens or so; in fact, most of the female demons are over a hundred years old. Rather, it refers to their mindset and lifespan within their species. If Shen Liang were human, then a hundred-year-old female demon could be considered his peer.

Although, Shen Liang's race is actually a demon god, and a demon god of ten years old is probably not very intelligent... However, everyone is double-standard with Shen Liang. When comparing talents, they say that I am the same age as His Highness, but when comparing intelligence, they say that His Highness is already ten years old and in the prime of his youth, not a child anymore.

"stop!"

Shen Liang chased the celestial dog girl with a knife in the courtyard, but was stopped midway.

Panting, Mitsuyo poured herself a glass of hot water, soaked some bayberries in it, and drank it down in one gulp to soothe her throat.

"Training is over!"

They weren't actually there to fight.

Little Yae no Miko and the others didn't know that she and Shen Liang actually had their own secret.

They are researching new pop music albums.

Unlike many yokai who only know how to fight, Mitsuyo has her own career. She doesn't want to be a so-called shogun, but is more interested in being out of power.

If you're out of the public eye, you need to have the ability to support yourself, and Mitsuyo is good at writing songs.

"Ayi, let's rehearse that song you taught me again. I'm planning to make it the title track for my next album."

Shen Liang had countless ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) music tracks from Earth in his mind. He could hum a tune and Hikaru, with his perfect pitch, could transcribe it instantly. The two of them collaborated to plagiarize Earth's music copyrights; after all, they couldn't file a lawsuit across the globe—they weren't Disney.

They were rehearsing a new song for her when Hikaru suddenly stopped singing.

"Your Highness, could you please change the name of this song?"

"What's wrong with the name? It's called 'Unreachable Love,' a very famous song where we're from." Shen Liang looked at her innocently, then suddenly grinned mischievously. "What's wrong? Thinking of Brother Daoqi?"

He spoke, but his expression was slightly cold.

"Why do you always bring up other people when it's just the two of us!" Mitsuyo suddenly slammed down the sheet music, her tone somewhat annoyed. "It's such a mood killer, you know! Don't mention his name when you're with me! Just like me and the young master of the Mikoto family..."

She realized she had no reason to be angry.

As one of the many daughters of the Great Tengu, Kagehiko Mitsuyo was born to be married into the Mikoto family. She was not the future Tengu clan leader and could not compete with Kiyokobo.

Ling Shan Fang treats her leniently now, and no matter how presumptuous she is, or even if she claims to be His Highness's childhood sweetheart, the adults just laugh it off. But how many years are left? Yu Yu Dao Qi will soon be twenty, and by then, his first betrothed... will be no one else.

“I…” Mitsuyo bit her lip, “I never had a relationship with the Mikoto family…”

Shen Liang looked at her calmly.

"Are you unhappy?" Mitsuyo asked softly.

"No."

"You're just unhappy!"

Shen Liang stroked her hair; it was fluffy and had adorable animal ears. Mitsuyo comfortably squinted her eyes, but quickly opened them again, looking at him nervously.

"Brother Daoqi is a good person, everyone knows that."

"Does Your Highness feel... guilty towards Brother Daoqi?"

“A little,” Shen Liang said calmly. “Even though he can’t feel it, it’s still the same.”

“Ryo…” Mitsuyo gritted her teeth, “I… if you don’t like it, I’ll run away. I’ll run away to the mountains and forests, and I definitely won’t get caught. Then… then you can come find me again?”

Mitsuyo looked at him pitifully, grabbed his hand and shook it gently, her big eyes blinking.

"You dare to defy Ling Shan Fang?"

"I wouldn't dare," Mitsuyo whispered, "but... if His Highness helps..."

"If I'm here?" Shen Liang continued to ask. He was joking, after all, seeing her pitiful appearance, he had no emotions left, only a feeling of his heart softening.

"That's the power of a hundred people."

Mitsuyo's face began to flush slightly, then she closed her eyes and raised her head.

Shen Liang was also stunned.

The girl's tender lips reminded him of plum blossoms, pure and elegant, with a youthful pink hue.

Shen Liang suddenly felt a little flustered.

"I was just kidding, stop fooling around. The song is only half finished. You should think about what instrument can replace the keyboard and guitar. Just so you know, the sound of an electric guitar is not the same as that of a regular guitar!"

"I've already let Daoqi down quite a bit, I can't let him down again. Guangdai-neechan, I'm not the kind of heartless person who can't understand what people are saying..."

"Aunt Ling Shan Fang will beat me to death..."

Mitsuyo didn't react, still stubbornly holding her head up, her tightly closed eyes were red, and under her long eyelashes were tears that were about to fall but she tried hard to hold back.

Just because you can't let others down, does that mean you can... let her down?

Reizenbo knows everything. The Tengu clan's indulgence was even led by Reizenbo. For a yokai with no moral sense, it doesn't matter who Kagehiro likes. It can also prove that Reizenbo's taste is just as good as that of a young girl!

These are all excuses, just excuses for scumbags who only want to enjoy the youthful comedy of being surrounded by girls, but don't want to take responsibility for others.

"Why bother..." Shen Liang was momentarily speechless. "Do you like me? You're not even sure if you're right. At a time like this, you should seriously examine your own thoughts, determine your orientation, and ideally make a life plan for the next twenty years... What am I even saying..."

"Ryo, I'm so afraid you'll run away," Mitsuyo said suddenly, her eyes closed.

“I’m so afraid that you don’t care about me at all, because there are so many people around you who are more capable and outstanding than me… I’m so afraid that you will leave the castle tower, that you want to do so many things and go to so many places…” Mitsuyo’s tone became strange, “I don’t know if I like you or not, but I’m afraid that if I really like you… I won’t be worthy of being by your side.”

People will embrace the future, and there are too many people in the future.

Even light novels know the truth: childhood sweethearts can never compete with a chance encounter in the future.

After a long while, Shen Liang smiled and patted her head.

So she had already figured out that I was thinking of leaving. That makes sense. Although she is a lovely young girl, she is also a hundred-year-old fairy. Who wouldn't be able to tell?

But Mitsuyo had almost completely abandoned all pretenses, and Shen Liang leaned down and gently touched her icy lips.

Mitsuyo opened her eyes.

"Don't let them know," Shen Liang smiled, "it's our secret."

Secret my foot!

Mitsuyo understood perfectly well that, given the monsters' level of attention towards Shen Liang, if she managed to steal it today, the news would spread throughout Shadow Mountain by the afternoon, not even until tomorrow.

But...it doesn't matter.

"Your Highness!" Mitsuyo rushed forward. "That's not enough! I want to taste what a kiss tastes like!"

"Keep your voice down! Hmm... You can't bite, okay? I'll teach you..."

"Stop with your feeble teaching! Watch me! They can't hear anything I'm doing anyway—wait, why are you so skilled at this?!"

Chapter Nineteen: Short Stories from the Hot Springs

Just the next day, Shen Liang was to leave Daoqi and head to the Kingdom of Kanriya.